Israel outlawed torture more than two decades ago, yet years later evidence of the state’s security services exerting rampant physical and psychological abuse continue to surface. Human rights groups representing Palestinians who have filed more than one thousand suits alleging torture by the Shin Bet, also known as the Shabak or General Security Service, claim the practice is still endemic and continues in a system with little oversight.
How can torture be both banned and common practice? The answer lies in the organization’s longitudinal development, where secrecy has prevailed. It is governed by policies that are classified and have never been examined by an independent or external body, shielding it from media and public scrutiny.
On 8 February 1949, the Shin Bet was officially formed but it was not until 1957 that the general public became aware of its creation. Its inception fell upon a period where many “threats” were looming overhead for the newly formed state, in the wake of the 1948 war against five neighboring Arab countries and the Palestinian Nakba, the start of the
— source mondoweiss.net | Sarmad Ishfaq | Apr 15, 2021